Phantom Lady

Real Name: Sandra Knight

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Golden Age Socialite
Silver Age (D.C. version) Teacher

Affiliations: Golden Age Spider Widow, Raven
Silver Age (D.C. version) Iron Munro, Freedom Fighters, Argent, Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler, her protege)

Enemies: Golden Age the Avenging Skulls, the Fire Fiend, the Killer Clown, Kurtz, the Robbing Robot, the Subway Slayer, Vulture;
Silver Age (D.C. version) Baron Blitzkrieg

Known Relatives: Golden Age Henry Knight (father, U.S. Senator)
Silver Age (D.C. version) Iron Munro (husband, separated), Ted Knight (cousin, a.k.a. Starman), unnamed child

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Washington D.C.

First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (Quality Comics, August 1941)

Powers/Abilities: Good fighter. Carries a "Black Lantern" which projects beams of darkness. She can turn invisible when she uses the beam on herself.

History: While waiting for her Senator father on the steps of the Capitol building, Sandra Knight witnessed some men trying to assassinate him. She intervened, using a newspaper to drive them off, then slipped away into the shadows before her dad could recognise her. Finding the encounter exhilarating, Sandra then purloined a "Black Lantern" device given to her father by his inventor friend Professor Davis. Armed with this device and a skimpy costume, Sandra became the crimefighting Phantom Lady.

Comments: Created by Arthur Peddy, working for the Eisner-Iger studio to produce stories for Quality Comics.

Phantom Lady appeared in Police Comics #1 to 23, and Feature Comics #69-71, where she teamed up with Spider-Widow.

Phantom Lady then jumped ship from Quality, when the (now simply) Iger Studio recostumed her for use by Fox Features Syndicate, who gave the character her own title, Phantom Lady, which lasted from #1 (August, 1947) to #26 (April 1949). She also guested in All-Top Comics #8 to #15. Shortly afterwards, Fox went bust. Star Comics bought the rights to the Fox characters, and had Phantom lady turn up in a couple of their comics, then Farrell Publications got hold of her, and produced four issues of their own Phantom Lady series (unlike many of the characters they revived from other companies, they kept both costume and true identity unchanged). Eventually Charlton bought up most of the Fox characters, presumably including Phantom Lady, though the only one they made use of was the Blue Beetle.

D.C. had bought the Quality characters in 1956, and in 1973 revived many of the characters (Phantom Lady included) in Justice League of America, as members of the Freedom Fighters. A.C. meanwhile bought the Charlton characters and introduced their own Phantom Lady. D.C. swiftly threatened to sue, so A.C. avoided a lawsuit they couldn't win (any other merits aside, they couldn't have matched the powerhouse that was D.C.), and changed their Phantom Lady's name to Nightveil. The D.C. version of Phantom Lady (a protege of the original) recently died in Infinite Crisis #1.

She has the dubious distinction of being one of the pieces of evidence in Dr. Fredric Wertham's 1954 anti-comics treatise "Seduction of the Innocent", where he used one of her cheesecake cover shots to show America's youth were being exposed to corrupting influences.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

• Phantom Lady, Philippines

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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